Study Bava Batra folio 17B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Talmud: The tanna of the Mishnah opens by speaking of a pit: A person may not dig a pit close to the pit of another, and yet he ends with a reference to a wall: Unless he distances it from the wall of another. Let the tanna teach: Unless he distanced his pit or ditch 3 handbreadths from the pit o
Abaye said, and some say it was Rav Yehuda who said: We learned that the Mishnah means: From the wall of his pit. In other words, one should read the Mishnah as follows: Unless he distanced his pit or ditch 3 handbreadths from the wall of another’s pit. The neighbor also built his pit close to the
The Talmud challenges: But even so, let it teach: Unless he distanced his excavations 3 handbreadths from the pit of another, and one would understand that the term pit is referring to the wall of the other’s pit. The Talmud responds: By using the phrase: From the wall of another, this teaches us i
§ It was stated: With regard to one who comes to dig any of these excavations or place any of the items listed in the Mishnah close to the boundary of his field, where his neighbor currently has no pit, Abaye says: He may dig or place them close to the boundary; and Rava says: He may not dig or pla
The Talmud elaborates: Abaye says: He may dig these excavations or place these items close to the boundary, as the neighbor’s field is not designated for pits, so he is not causing any damage by doing so. Rava says: He may not dig these excavations or place these items close to the boundary, as the